In a major crossover move, rock superstar Eddie Van Halen has joined forces with adult director Michael Ninn to write and perform two songs for the upcoming Ninn Worx feature, Sacred Sin.
Although several big-name rappers have contributed material to XXX movies, Van Halen is probably the first major rock star to lend his name to an adult project.
Van Halen told AVN.com he’s not bothered by possible criticism. “I’m working with a friend — very simple. I like his work,” he said. “Michael Ninn is like a Spielberg to me: the imagery, the way he makes things look, just… sensual.
“We hooked up, I ended up doing the music, and it’s some whompin-ass shit. I think it’s the best work he’s ever done, and me too. And more to come.”
“Eddie is from Amsterdam, born and raised, and his interpretation of sex and music are all in one, so it wasn’t a big step for him,” Ninn told AVN.com in an exclusive interview.
He and Van Halen, he said, have been friends for “a couple of lifetimes, it seems like. It started out as him ringing me up to work on some music together. One thing just led to another, and it ended up, I had this movie in mind. We would sit at the piano — he has two grand pianos in the house — and play and talk all night long.”
The project came to life as a result of “the things we talked about: life in general, imagery and the power of imagery. Sometimes as he’d play I’d walk around the estate and the story kind of came to me while I was there.”
The Van Halen songs in Sacred Sin are “Rise” and “Catherine,” a remix of the theme from Ninn’s 2005 movie of the same name.
“One of the things that Eddie really, really liked,” Ninn said, “was the theme from Catherine. He did a remix, it still carries the melody, but it’s got a Kashmir-Led Zeppelin kind of feel to it now. A very, very powerful piece of music.”
He said Van Halen was “absolutely elated with the track,” and the rocker himself confirmed, “If ‘Catherine’ doesn’t move you, you’re brain-dead.”
The second song, “Rise,” was a tune he had been working on already. “I heard it and just fell in love with it,” Ninn said. Van Halen also contributed some “transitional piano pieces that are sprinkled throughout the movie.” The rest of the music is the work of frequent Ninn collaborator Loren Alexander.
Ninn Worx will release Sacred Sin on September 13, distributed by Red Light District. The two-disc set will contain music videos for both Van Halen songs. “They’re pretty powerful,” Ninn said, calling his friend “an incredible performer who really comes to life when the cameras are on. He’s a showman.”
Ninn is also cutting a non-explicit version of the movie, to be called Rise, for the general market. Release date is unsure, he said, because it has yet to be submitted to the MPAA board for a rating.
The picture introduces new Ninn Worx contract girl Heather Vuur, in her first adult movie. “She’s an incredible actress on top of being stunningly beautiful,” Ninn said. “Anyone that can pull off my psychobabble and make it believable is one hell of an actress. Her energy for this picture was just amazing.”
The movie was completely shot on High Definition video and is frankly aimed at the couples market. Ninn called it “180 degrees from Catherine,” in which the sex scenes, because of the nature of stars Audrey Hollander and Otto Bauer, “were all over the top — carnival X.”
In Sacred Sin, he said, “I wanted the sex to be for couples, nothing too crazy, a picture that couples could get off on.”
He said the budget “might push $200,000. We’re around $150,000 right now and we’re not finished with post work. I’m not sure. I try to stay out of that and just get the best picture I can make.”
Van Halen, he said, has “seen a lot of the movie and has seen this is real. He seems to be relatively happy with what we’re trying to achieve.”
To find out more about Sacred Sin, visit www.ninnworx.com/sacredsin.
